Film-fire extinguisher



April 15 1924.

1,4%,880 W. D. WRIGHT FILM FIRE EXTINGUIHER Filed March 10, 1922 i 20 i mi? l '11 ll F5 4 BY WMA rroRNfY lit Patented Apr. 15, 1924. I

UNITED [srATEs' PTNT OFFICE.

WALTER D. VJRIG'HT, OF IDRYAD, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALE T0 JOSEYH F.

` v' KOCE, [OF TACOMA, W'ASHINGTON.

FILM-Fran vnxrrneursrrnn.

Application filed March 10, 1922, Serial No. 543,542.

To aZZ whom it may concemt:

Be it known that I, WALTER D. WRIGHT, a citizen of .the United States; residing at the town of Dryad, in the county of Lewis and State of l/Vashington, have invented new and useful Improvements in Film-Fire Extinguishers, of which the following is a specification. p i My invention relates to devices for extinguishing film fires within a moving picture projecting machine. The objects of my invention are, first, to promptly extinguish a film fire, either automatically or by the will of the motion picture machine operator before the fire can spread and cause the destruction of life and property, and second, to promptly extinguish a film fire within the motion picture projecting machine and thus prevent the destruction of the picture film and also prevent delay in the showing of the moving pictures.

1 attain these objects by means of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front view of my invention when set ready for use. Fig. 2 is a similar view of my invention showing the parts in operative position to extinguish a film fire. Fig. 3 is a cross section of Fig. 2 on line 3-3. Fig. 4: is a view of my fusible link; and Fig. 5 shows my invention attached to the film chamber to extinguish a fire therein.

Similar characters refer to similar parts in the several views.

My invention is designed to be contained within a suitable metal cabinet 1 made fireproof by lining with asbestos or other suitable material, said Gabinet having an Outlet 2 connected with the film reel chamber 3. The hinged door e constitutes one side of the cabinet to permit access thereto.

The extinguishing apparatus comprises a container tank 5 with a taperedbottom and Outlet 6 centered over the cabinet Outlet 2. The outlet of the container is closed by means of a suitable disk stopper 7 held held against the Outlet opening 6 by an annular shaped end 8. The lever arm 9 which is aotuated by the spring 10 holds the stoper 7 in place. An electric magnet 11 attached to the opposite end of the lever arm 9 is designed to release the stopper 7 and let the extinguishing liquid through the outlet 2 in the film reel chamber. The magnet 11 is magnetized by the wires 12 which are contacted 'with a proper battery or Circuit. A

knife switch circuit breaker 13 when open,`

asin Fig. 1, leaves 'the magnetll inactive,

but' when closed as shown in Fig. 2, it then' acts on the, lever arm 9 and releases the stopper 7. The extinguishing liquid then flows freely into and through the cabinet outlet 2 and into the chamber 3.

The magne-t 11 may be operated voluntarily by the operator through a switch 14 but automatically by the knife cutout switch 13 actuated by the sp-ring 15, when released by a fusible link when a film fire occurs. For a fusiblelink I have adopted the novel idea of using a short piece of motion picture film 16,-one end of which is attached to the wall of the cabinet by means of a V-shaped hook 17 and by a similar hook 18 tothe knife of the circuit breaker 13 at the op-posite end. The hooks 17 and 18 are inserted in the small holes at the sides of the moving picture film. It is to be observed the film of the fusible link is stretched directly over the discharge outlet 2 and the loose end 19 hangs down through the outlet 2 nearly in contact with the film reel chamber. A suitable stopper 20 closes the opening through which the container tank 5 is replenished.

The automatic operation of my invention as shown and described is very simple. Should a moving picture film break and be set on fire by the light rays of the moving picture projecting machine, the flame will quickly follow the film within the reel chamber 3 and on reaching the discharge opening 2 connected therewith will'instantly set fire to the end 19 of the fusible link 16 and each will be destroyed. The knife switch now being released, the spring 15 will close it and the electric magnet 11 acting on the lever 9 will open the container tank 5. The extinguishing liquid will now fiow into and through the discharge opening 2 into 'the reel chamber 3 and instantly extinguish the burning film therein, thus preventing further damage. The picture film can at once be reconnected and shown again without delay. The container tank 5 can at once be refilled with pyrine or other suitable extinguishing fluid through the stop'tper opening 20 after a new film fusible link is put in and the estinlguisher is again ready for use.

t is to be observed the annular end 8 of I the lever 9, when the disk stopper 7 is redirectly into the discharge Outlet 2.' v In the making of niy invention, I do not liinit myself to exact dimensions, proportions or materials, but reserve the right'tovary thesaaine as conditions and crcumstancesma require.l

` Having described my invention, claim- In a fire extinguishing device, a' film cabinet having an outlet opening in its upper portion, fire extinguishing rnec'hansm' located above the film cabinet and having a discharge Outlet in 4 alignnient with the open ing in the lfilm cabinet,usaid firelextingu'ih; ing mechanism compri'sin'g a'. cabinet, a liq- WALTER n. WRIGHT. 

